CAMP
TAJI, Iraq, April 2008 –
Throughout their military careers,
Army Staff Sgt. Shane Hansen and his
brother, Army Sgt. 1st Class Zane
Hansen, have always been on opposite
sides of the world.
Army Staff Sgt.
Shane Hansen (left),
a section sergeant
in Company D, 3rd
Battalion, 158th
Aviation Regiment,
poses for a picture
with his older
brother, Army Sgt.
1st Class Zane
Hansen, a platoon
sergeant in Troop T,
4th Squadron, 3rd
Armored Cavalry
Regiment, at Camp
Taji, Iraq. Photo by
Sgt. Brandon Little,
USA
(Click
photo for
screen-resolution
image);high-resolution
image available. |
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Over
the years, as they got married, had
children and were stationed in
different places, they haven’t had
many chances to see each other. But
an unexpected mission change,
combined with a little good fortune,
brought them together in Iraq.
Shane, who is stationed in
Katterbach, Germany, deployed to
Logistics Support Area Anaconda in
July; Zane, who is stationed in Fort
Hood, Texas, learned in November his
unit also would deploy to Iraq.
When Task Force 12 received the
mission of becoming the aviation
task force for Multinational
Division Baghdad, the Hansen
brothers found their first
opportunity to be stationed
together.
“I was excited when I found out we
would be here together, because the
last time I saw (Zane), before this
deployment, was at our parents’
house in August of 2004,” said
Shane, a section sergeant in Company
D, 3rd Battalion, 158th Aviation
Regiment. “We usually get to see
each other about once every five
years.”
Even though the brothers, natives of
Wichita, Kan., live and work less
than a half mile away from each
other here, they still remain worlds
apart.
“Right now, I’m working night
shift, and (Shane) works day shift;
it seems like every time my shift
changes, so does his,” said Zane,
a platoon sergeant in Troop T, 4th
Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry
Regiment. “Since we’ve been
stationed here together, we’ve
only seen each other about three or
four times.”
“Our different shifts and
different ‘reset’ days makes it
difficult to see each other unless
we really put forth an effort to
going over to where the other one
works,” said Shane, who has been
in the Army for 12 years.
Their families have mixed feelings
about the brothers being stationed
together in Iraq.
“Our wives are happy that we are
stationed here together, because
they feel we have someone to talk
to,” said Shane, a UH-60 Black
Hawk maintainer. “Our parents
don’t like the idea of us being
here together, because if something
happens, it might happen to both of
us; but our older sister isn’t too
worried about us being here.”
Both brothers are on their second
deployment; Zane previously deployed
to Bosnia and Shane to Afghanistan.
Zane joined the Army a little more
than a year before Shane.
“When I joined the Army in 1994, I
got stationed in Korea,” said
Zane, an AH-64D Apache Longbow
maintainer. “When he joined the
Army and got stationed in Hawaii, I
was stationed in the states.”
Communicating with each other was
difficult for the first couple of
years because there was no Internet
access; but now, it’s definitely
gotten a lot better, Shane said.
Zane has been in aviation for his
entire career, but Shane started out
as a signal soldier.
“I really didn’t like that job,
and Zane would always tell me about
his job and all of the cool things
he did,” said Shane. “He
wasn’t the only reason I chose
this job, but he definitely helped
me make my decision.”
The brothers are living up to a long
legacy of military service in their
family. Their grandfathers served in
the military during World War II.
Their father also served in the
Army; he joined shortly after the
Vietnam War.
Growing up, they had plenty of good
times mixed with a little bit of
mischief, they said. Although they
try to stay professional, and call
each other “Sergeant Hansen”
when around other soldiers,
childhood memories sometimes
resurface.
“All of (Zane’s) soldiers want
to know about him,” Shane said.
“Every once in a while, one of
them will come up to me and ask me
questions about him, and I’ll give
them a tidbit of information about
some of the things he did growing
up.”
Shane has been selected for
promotion to sergeant first class
and said he would like to be
stationed back in the United States
in the future. Zane said he and his
wife are discussing the idea of
asking to go to Europe.
(Army Sgt. Brandon Little serves in
the Task Force 12 Public Affairs
Office in Multinational Division
Baghdad.)
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